The present disclosure is directed generally to a method and apparatus for dispensing nanostructures, and is directed more specifically to a method and apparatus for dispensing nanostructures such as nanotubes that may be aligned and using a cartridge or cassette provisioned with a flexible substrate tape that houses the nanostructures.
Nanostructure films, including carbon nanotube (CNT) films, have a sensitive morphology and many final properties of composite materials that include nanotube films depend upon maintaining the morphology of the nanostructures in their construction. In particular, nanostructures can be arranged wherein the long axis of the nanostructures are substantially aligned with each other in a large grouping, in which the nanostructures are parallel to each other, thereby forming a “forest” of nanostructures. When nanostructures are used to construct composite materials such as fiber reinforced plastics or nanocomposites, certain types of materials benefit from employment of a nanostructure forest with respect to directional reinforcement. Accordingly, maintaining the alignment and spatial orientation of the group of parallel nanostructures during a composite material manufacturing process can be an important goal to producing composite materials with specific directional reinforcement. In particular, maintaining alignment of the parallel nanostructures so that they are dispersed uniformly and non-parallel to the interface of composite material layers or plies is of particular interest. This arrangement is commonly considered z-direction or interlaminar reinforcement in composite materials.
Various techniques are known to align and group nanostructures in parallel. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,892,432 discusses alignment of nanotubes in parallel on a knife edge. In addition, transport of nanotubes in a sealed container is known. For example, WO 2012011624 discusses an enclosure that can be used to house and transport nanotubes in a sealed environment. It is also known to dispense nanotubes that are dispersed in various media, including liquids, such as is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,842,522, which discusses deposition of nanotube ink using a device such as an ink jet printer. However, despite the advances in nanotube technology described above, challenge on how to house and transport and dispense nanotubes that are aligned with each other and grouped in parallel while protecting against real or perceived environmental, health or safety concerns regarding the handling of nanotube material continue to be presented.